Lubricator



F. E. A. SMITH July 2, 1957 LUBRICATOR Filed Sept. 22, 1954 ATTORNEYS:

LUBRICATOR Fred E. Arthur Smith, Winchester, Mass., assignor to Cowles Chemical Company, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio ApplicationSeptember 22, 1954, Serial No. 457,648

1 Claim. (Cl. 23267) This invention relates to lubrication and more particularly to a novel lubricator adapted to provide a continuous supply of an aqueous soap solution for lubrication purposes. The lubricator of the present invention is especially well suited for use in the lubrication of bottle-carrying, case or can conveyors and will be described as employed in such an illustrative application, although as the description proceeds it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the lubricator can be used in many other ways as well.

In food processing plants conveyors are frequently used to move containers such as bottles, cans and the like from one point to another and such moving equipment must of course be properly lubricated. It is considered generally undesirable for sanitary reasons to use conventional lubricating oils and greases in food handling plants and it is customary to lubricate such conveyors with aqueous soap solutions. For this purpose a device is required that is capable of converting bulk soap continuously into relatively dilute aqueous solutions having a substantially constant predetermined soap concentration.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide-a simple yet effective device for producing a continuous supply of dilute aqueous soap solution from a bulk soap. It is another object of the invention to provide a lubricator for delivering continuously a soap solution having a substantially constant concentration of soap therein. It is still another object of the invention to provide a lubricator that can be readily cleaned and refilled when required. Other objects of the invention will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereafter.

The many objects and advantages of the present invention can best be understood and appreciated by reference to the accompanying drawing which shows a lubricator incorporating a preferred embodiment of the invention and wherein Figure l is a perspective view of the lubricator showing the general arrangement of the soap dissolving tank and water filter;

Figure 2 is a front elevation partially broken away to show the location of the water supply conduit that leads to the bottom of the dissolving tank;

Figure 3 is a side view of the filter broken away to show a part of its internal construction;

Figure 4 is an enlarged detailed view of the filtered water outlet portion of the filter, and

Figure 5 is an axial section taken through one of the water supply conduits and showing a flow controlling orifice therein.

Referring to the drawing and more particularly to Figure 1, the lubricator comprises a generally rectangular tank and water filter 12 mounted on a bracket 14 by means of which the lubricator can be attached to the framework of the bottle carrying, case or can conveyor in proper location to deliver soap solution to the conveyor for lubrication. The tank 10 is open at its top and contains a basket 16 that is adapted to contain a supply of United States Patent semi-solid soap. At its front upper edge the tank 10 is provided with a discharge trough 18 through which aqueous soapsolution may overflow from the tank 10.

Referring to Figure 3 as well as to Figure 1, raw water for dissolving and diluting the soap is supplied to filter 12 through an inlet connection 20. As shown in Figure 3, filter 12 comprises a filter medium 22 in the form of a filter cartridge held in place by a tie-rod 24 extending through the center of the filter cartridge. The filter medium 22 cooperates with the filter casing 26 to define an annular space 28 communicating with the inlet connection 20 and through which the raw water may flow to and through the filter medium. The filtered water collects in an annular space 30 defined by the tie-rod 24 and the central bore of the filter medium 22. As indicated in Figure 4, the tie-rod 24 is provided near its lefthand end with a transverse passage 32 communicating with an axial passage 34 by means of which filtered Water is discharged from the filter through one arm of a T 36.

Reverting to Figure 1, water from the T 36 flows through a conduit 38 to the bottom of tank 10 and through a conduit 40 to the trough 18. The conduit 38 comprises a metal tube 42 having secured thereto a plastic hose 44 which extends downwardly into the tank 10 and as shown in Figure 2 has a discharge end positioned approximately at the center of the tank under basket 16. A small hole 46 is provided in the top of hose 44 near its point of connection to tube 42 to prevent syphoning of the soap solution back into the filter. The conduit 40 has a discharge end 48 positioned within the trough 18 approximately at the center of the trough.

The flow of water through the conduits 40 and 42 is controlled by orifices. Referring particularly to Figure 5 interposed between the T 36 and conduit 40 there is an orifice plate 50 having a small opening 52 of predetermined selected size therein. The orifice plate is held tightly between the T 36 and conduit 40 by the bushing 54 that is screwed on the end of conduit 40. A similar orifice is interposed between the T 36 and conduit 42.

The purpose of the conduit 42 is to supply filtered water to the tank 10 to dissolve the mass of semi-solid soap therein to form a saturated aqueous solution thereof. The purpose of the conduit 40 is to supply a predetermined flow of water to the soap solution overflowing through spout 18 to dilute it to a predetermined concentration. The orifice associated with conduit 42 has an opening so selected that the soap solution overflowing through trough 18 is always saturated. Hence when a predetermined flow of diluting water is added continuously to the trough from the discharge end 48 of conduit 40 the resulting mixture has a predetermined concentration of soap therein. The sizes of the orifices may be readily selected to provide the optimum soap concentration for lubrication purposes.

It should be noted that in order to secure the desired predetermined concentration of soap in the lubricant it is important that the soap solution entering the trough 18 be saturated with respect to the soap, and in order to insure saturation of this solution at all times the flow of dissolving water through conduit 42 should be quite small. Moreover the rate at which lubricant is required for the lubrication of the conveyor is quite small. The flow controlling orifices of the present invention have been found exceptionally effective in achieving these small controlled fiows. In a typical installation the openings in the orifices may be from 0.005 to 0.015 inch and it has been found that even with such small openings a reliably constant flow of water at the desired rate can be obtained. It will of course be understood that the orifice openings may be larger or smaller than the indicated values depending upon the water supply pressure, the size and diluting water. foregoing description is illustrative only and that numerous 3 shape 'of the tank, the amount of conveyor chain to be lubricated and other factors of a similar character. Also the openings in the two orifices may be of different sizes. From the foregoing description it should beapparent that the present invention provides a simple and inexpensive device for achieving the objectives outlined at the beginning of the present specification. Theuse of an overflow trough with a separate supply of diluting Water leading thereto constitutes an efiective method of securing the desired diluted soap solution of substantially constant concentration and as indicated above the orifices provide accurate regulation of the small flows of dissolving and It is of course to be understood that the as defined in the appended claim.

I claim: A lubricator adapted to be used for producing a continuous supply of aqueous soap solution of predetermined concentration for lubricating purposes comprising, in combination, a dissolving tank having a discharge trough near the top thereof, a mesh basket positioned in said tank and adapted to contain a body of semi-solid soap, a source of filtered water, a first conduit connected to said source of water and having a discharge end extending under said basket in said tank, and a second conduit connected to said source of water and having a discharge end positioned adjacent to said trough to deliver a stream of Water thereinto, each of said conduits being provided with an orifice plate having an opening of predetermined small size therein for maintaining the flow of water through each conduit at a predetermined value.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 976,665 Ledoux Nov. 22, 1910 2,590,541 Johnson et a1. Mar. 25, 1952 2,603,534 Miller July 15, 1952 

